Total cases of chikungunya in the ongoing outbreak in the Caribbean and Americas now number 1,071,354, an increase of 36,428 from the previous week's total, according to a Dec 19 update from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The largest increase by far occurred in Guatemala, with 21,429 new cases; the country had only 628 cases the week before. Other areas with sizable increases are Saint Barthelemy with 1,059 new cases and French Guiana with 878.

The overall increase includes 34,222 suspected and 2,075 confirmed cases.

Locally acquired cases account for nearly all of the new cases. Just 131 of them were imported, with 110 of those occurring in the United States; there has been a total of 2,501 imported cases since the start of the outbreak, 2,010 of those US cases.Dec 19 PAHO update Dec 15 CIDRAP News scan on chikungunya

MERS strikes Saudi man; health worker recovers

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Health (MOH) announced a new case of MERS-CoV Dec 19, bringing the total cases there since June 2012 to 822.

The patient is a 53-year-old Saudi man from Alkharj. He had preexisting disease as well as animal exposure, a risk factor for MERS-CoV (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus). He had no known contact with MERS-CoV patients in either the healthcare or community setting, and he remains in stable condition.

An MOH update today announces the recovery from MERS-CoV of a female health worker whose case was announced previously. She is a 29-year-old expatriate living in the city of Taif. The ministry says 463 patients have recovered from MERS and 355 have died, with 4 active cases remaining.Dec 19 MOH update Dec 22 MOH update